


Holidays

by Lisafer



Category: Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/F, Forum: Goldenlake, Friendship, Romance, SMACKDOWN 2010
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-19
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 06:51:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisafer/pseuds/Lisafer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alanna and Kel share some moments together when there's a lull in the war - on holidays.</p><p>(initially written as part of a 4-part series with Emberfyre at Goldenlake for SMACKDOWN 2010, Team Alanna/Kel.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beltane

May 1, 463

Alanna can’t remember the last time she celebrated Beltane. Last year she’d been at the Swoop, at least, but she’d spent the day scrying for Aly. It’s ironic, she realizes, that a holiday dedicated to lovers and fertility would pass with her fretting over a wayward byproduct of these kinds of celebrations.

A year before she’d also thought that the war was winding down, but here she is, still stuck in the north. At least there are lulls in battle. She finds herself traveling between Mastiff and Northwatch, in the vicinity of New Hope.

It’s hard not to think about that scrappy little refugee camp – almost a full-fledged town, nowadays. Lord Wyldon, for all his idiocy, had done right by putting Kel in charge. She’s proving herself each day, and Alanna enjoys every moment they’re able to spend just talking after so many years of not being able to. 

This particular evening, she watches the refugees add kindling to the bonfires in the center of the camp. Kel keeps walking up to them, telling them not to let the fires too close to the flagpole – now decorated with ribbons – and pulling children out of the way. She’s a mother hen, and it amuses Alanna. Kel’s infamous for caring too much.

“Numair spelled the camp, didn’t he?” she asks, when Kel finally returns to her side.

“Yes. But I don’t know if he protected many of the things within the walls.”

“He’s thorough.”

“I’d rather not test it, just the same.” The taller woman grins wryly. Alanna loves her smile; it’s genuine, and it lights up her face.

“Are you planning on jumping the embers tonight?”

Kel laughs outright. “I’m afraid I’ve no lover to jump with. The war has kept me rather busy.”

“Yes, I noticed you plowing this morning when I rode up.”

Kel ducks her head bashfully. “I’m more useful out there on days without any raids. They need all the bigger folk in the fields.” She sighs almost wistfully. “No, there isn’t time for love when you have a refugee camp to take care of.”

Alanna studies her silently. Kel’s not exactly a quiet person, but she’s calming. She speaks only what’s necessary, and doesn’t allow her emotions to take over her words. Only someone who knew her well could see that, under the calm surface, she was lonely. Incredibly lonely. _She laughs it off_ , Alanna thinks. _Rather than feel sorry for herself, or be angry that she’s out in the middle of nowhere, she jokes about her duty._

“You love it out here, don’t you?” she asks after a very long pause.

Kel nods. “At first I thought it was a dungheap of an assignment. I wanted combat. Even when my lord assured me I would see fighting, I worried that he protected me. And I didn’t know what to do about Blayce.”

Alanna frowns. “I was told – privately, mind you – that you were charged by the Chamber to deal with him. Is this true?”

“Yes. It was after my Ordeal. And then when I went into the Chamber a second time.”

Alanna recoils. “Why in the name of the Goddess would you be crazy enough to try that?”

“Because I needed to know more,” Kel answers with a smile and a shrug. “It’s just a bully of a room.”

Remembering spiders and Duke Roger and the wounds on her hands after it was over, Alanna shudders. “It’s a bully all right. Numair says elementals are trickier than gods – and as someone who’s dealt with both, I wouldn’t argue. 

“Gods try to understand, at least,” Alanna continues. “They have no concept of time, and they don’t prance around your fears and hesitations. Elementals, though,” she shudders, “they like to play with people.”

“People aren’t made to be played with,” Kel says darkly. “The Chamber is done with me, and I intend to keep all of those forces out of my life, if possible.”

“Easier said than done,” Alanna says with a laugh. “But even the gods-touched and elemental-driven have their own say in what happens with their lives.” 

Kel looks at her with a thousand questions in those dreamer’s eyes. “I never thought my life wasn’t mine. Did you?”

“At times.” Alanna loves her Goddess, but there were, in fact, times that she felt like a weapon to be wielded rather than a rational thinking human being. “But I know that things happen for a reason.” She gazes meaningfully at her friend, finding it hard to say the words she wants to say. Hoping Kel will understand.

The strains of a fiddle reach their ears. “The dancing will begin soon,” Kel says. “I’m thinking it’s time to start working on my reports, before they ask me to do a jig. Will you join me?”

“I’d love to,” Alanna says, grinning wolfishly. “I hate dancing as much as the next lady knight.”


	2. Lammas

August 1, 463 H.E.

“Legend says that there was once a beautiful lady knight – at least three hundred years ago – who was born on Lammas Eve,” Neal says, buttering his slice of bread. 

“Lots of women are born on Lammas Eve, I’d suspect,” Kel replies nonchalantly. Alanna can’t help but snort into her cup of water, earning amused looks from others nearby.

“You’re so unromantic. There’s more to this tragic story than the date of her birth.”

“Of course there is.”

“Well, the lady knight traversed the country, doing great deeds for her people and her king, but fell in love with another knight. At a tournament, on the eve of their hand fasting, she was killed.”

“That’s not a very pleasant story,” Kel says. 

_Most tales of lady knights aren’t_ , Alanna thinks. The only stories she knows that lasted were the ones used to warn women back into more domestic roles.

“The tragedy was that she never fulfilled, nay, _harvested_ her love for the other knight.” Neal grins at his play on words, overly proud of himself.

Alanna leans over her to knock her former squire upside the head. “I don’t understand why you talk such rubbish all of the time.”

Masking a smile, Kel takes a bite of her own bread, chewing thoughtfully and focusing her attention on the people in the mess hall. They are wearing their best clothes and partaking in the harvest feast. They’re a hard-working people who don’t have time or money for luxuries, but there are more ribbons in hair and sweets exchanging hands than anyone in New Hope is accustomed to. Alanna knows that this is likely Kel’s last harvest in the refugee camp, if the reports from Lord Wyldon are true. New Hope is thriving, and Kel is needed elsewhere.

“Care for a walk?” Alanna asks softly.

Kel swallows her last bite and nods. She searches the older woman’s eyes. Apparently she finds what she was looking for. “Certainly, Lioness.”

They leave Neal to tell his romantic, tragic tales to Merric and the other men, and instead walk the perimeter of the camp at a relaxed pace. 

“As nice as it is to hear Neal drone, I wanted to spend some quality time with you,” Alanna says, looking up at Kel with a sly grin.

“That works for me.”

Alanna leads her out the town gates, and back to the pond they’d sat beside at Midsummer. “You’ve never heard the tale Neal was spouting, have you?”

Kel shakes her head. “I stay away from romantic drivel.”

“You’re smarter than most,” Alanna says with a chuckle. “But there are bits he’s left out. It’s not just that the lady knight died before her love could be sworn before the Goddess. The knight she was in love with was also a woman.”

She doesn’t miss the sharp inhalation of Kel’s breath.

“Maybe it was originally a male knight, but then when people started using the story to morally oppress the world, they changed it to a woman. God forbid women become knights, or fall in love with other women.” 

Kel says nothing, but Alanna can never tell if it’s a matter of being uncomfortable, or simply being the type who listens rather than talks. 

“Do you object to that sort of thing?” she asks carefully.

“Not at all,” Kel replies. “I suppose it was just a bit of a surprise.” She stops at the edge of the water, gazing downward. “Do you?” Her voice is almost meek.

“Kel.” 

She looks at Alanna again, her eyes wide. The color reminds her of George, though they’re really nothing alike. Maybe she’s just a sucker for hazel eyes. 

Alanna closes the gap between them and shifts her weight to the balls of her feet. She presses her lips to Kel’s, and is delighted to feel those soft, full lips give beneath hers. Their tongues flick against each other, hesitant at first, but then with more urgency. When Alanna finally pulls away, Kel is almost panting. 

“I’ve been meaning to do that for a while now,” she admits. She sits down beside the pool of calm water, finding it strange to see such calmness when her heart is pounding incessantly. 

Kel sits beside her. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she says with a small smile. “Why do you think people use that story as a warning against women who fall in love with women?”

“Because the world is full of stupid,” Alanna replies, shaking her head. “Because people fear what they don’t understand.”

“I don’t.”

She takes Kel’s hand in hers. “No, my lass, you don’t. That’s what makes you better than the rest.”

“No, I’m really not.” 

“You _are_.”


End file.
